Up-to-the minute updates and insights from the Red Wings locker room at home and on the road. By Chuck Pleiness of The Macomb Daily.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Thoughts on Game 39 (3-0 win over CBJ)

-- Ty Conklin played pretty good for an indoor game. That save on Mike (Picka) Peca in the first period was brilliant although Peca certainly took his time and worse, shot it back into Conklin. What impressed me most about the save was that Peca elevated the puck. It's much easier to slide along the ice and make a save than knock it out of the air. And the kick save on Derek Dorsett in the second was sweet too.

-- I bet that if someone like George Plimpton was to do a Paper Lion story about going to training camp with the Lions this fall, the writer would make the team this time. Sorry, wrong blog.

-- Not to be negative, but the Detroit penalty-kill is still allowing a lot of chances. CBJ has a bad power play and didn't capitalize. That first CBJ power play in the first period should have resulted in a goal.

-- Merry Christmas (Russian Christmas) to Datsyuk today. He had a goal and two assists against CBJ last night on Christmas Eve and joked that Conklin "gave me nice present … a shutout."

-- Chris Chelios has the all-time regular-season win record now, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Here's his win breakdown by team Detroit 351, Chicago 309, Montreal 220. So who would have thought back in 1999 when the Wings dealt a 24-year-old Anders Eriksson for a 37-year-old Chris Chelios that Chelios would last longer in the NHL than Eriksson (who's with Quad Cities of the AHL this season). And who would have thought that after joining the Wings at age 37 that Chelios would go on to have a bigger piece of his career with Detroit than he did with Chicago or Montreal.

-- I picked the three stars last night and had Hossa as the third star. On second thought, Tomas Holmstrom could have been a better third star, being a key part in both of Detroit's first two goals. No do-overs though.

-- First time seeing CBJ goalie Steve Mason in person. He's very very good. Only 20, this kid could be one of the premier netminders in the league for a long time. Here's a big compliment from Mike Babcock after the game "He's huge and obviously very talented. When you're that big, you don't have to move that much. He made it very difficult for us. As their team improves and he gets some experience, that's the kind of goaltender you want. That's front-line goaltending."

Yes, I did. Through two periods, Mason and Conklin were my first two stars (in no particular order) with Datsyuk my third. I went with three Detroit stars because of the 3-0 score. If it had been a one-goal game, Mason would have been star 2 or 3 for sure.